For last Saturday’s story time, we chose a wonderful book about the sustainable relationship between human beings and the environment. The tale ‘Bumoni’s banana tree’ is set on the outskirts of a National Park in rural Assam. Bumoni and her family have a big backyard full of banana trees. They make full use of the banana trees for making food items and a lot more. One night, a herd of elephants crosses the river and gorges on the bananas and tramples the trees. Bumoni and her family manage to chase away the wild elephants, but Bumoni is worried about the elephants. Finally, she comes up with a great idea that allows the elephants to have their feast without destroying any crops.

Even though the children felt sorry for the elephants, they were delighted that the elephants could have their feast in their own homes. It is important for the next generation to understand and appreciate the need to resolve human-animal conflicts with empathy and coexist in harmony. The children discussed the different snacks that are made from bananas and what their favorites are. For the craft session, we made paper elephants and the kids were eager to name their elephants.